English master Glenn Hoddle gives Spanish lessons at his academy in Jerez

As Glenn Hoddle surveys his latest contribution to a game he graced with such
style, in the burning afternoon sun of Andalucía, it is a world away from
the trouble experienced by his most recent successor as England manager and
the travails of his star player.

High hopes: Glenn Hoddle believes producing a Premier League player at his academy would equal a World Cup winPhoto: REX FEATURES

But as Hoddle relaxes after training at his eponymously titled academy, on the outskirts of Jerez, he reflects on how Fabio Capello has had to restore his battered reputation and how simply returning to the pitch has been a means of redemption for Wayne Rooney.

Capello, with his experiences of the footballing hothouses of Madrid and Milan, insists Hoddle, is more than capable of handling the task of rebuilding trust and confidence in an England side who failed so badly at the World Cup.

Two European qualifying wins in five days have sent his stock soaring again, while Rooney, the subject of lurid media revelations, scored against Switzerland to repay Capello's faith in him.

"You have to make big decisions when you are England manager," Hoddle says of Capello's handling of Rooney. "It's the same as with these kids [at the academy], different amounts of pressure, obviously, but you have to make tough decisions all the time as a leader."

Hoddle's academy, now in its third year, selects young players released by clubs who he feels have a chance of making it back in to professional football. It is his belief that poor youth development and the pre-eminence of short-term results over long-term planning leads to decisions of players' worth being made too early.

"We're a development centre," he explains. "We give extra time to talent that we can improve. All clubs are interested only in is creating a player for that club. That's the beauty of this, it's neutral."

Since 2008, 14 players deemed surplus to requirements at British clubs have been returned to the professional game. Not all have endured, though the case of their most celebrated alumni, Ikechi Anya, latterly of Halesowen and now with Celta Vigo, Hoddle believes, proves he was right to launch the venture.

The latest development in a rapidly evolving concept is a ground-breaking association with a local lower league club that has produced the novelty of a professional Spanish side with more British first-team regulars than Arsenal have squad players – 20 of the 22 registered players are British, while the two Spaniards have been co-opted in to his academy, too.

Jerez Industrial, of the Spanish third tier, were staring in to the abyss this summer, with the players owed wages and the club fighting for its survival before Hoddle assumed control of the football side of operations.

A loan of around £160,000 was paid so that the club could pay off debts and continue trading. It was not an act of pure altruism. In providing his players with a competitive environment in which to play, the hope is that the club act as a shop window for others to more effectively scout his players. Sell-on clauses will eventually make the academy pay, though it is yet to turn a profit.

"The supporters are grateful for Glenn and the new players because they saved the club," says Alberto Valtierra Martin, the only remaining player at Jerez Industrial from this time last year. "I sometimes feel like I am in England when we train but it is no problem. On the pitch we are all the same."

Hoddle does not sit on the bench during games, acting as a director of football while his coaches, Graham Rix, Nigel Spackman and Dave Beasant, rotate match day duties two games at a time, working alongside a Spanish manager.

Though there is a decidedly English flavour to the training ground banter, the promotion of technical football and individual development means the club retains a Spanish personality on the pitch.

"To get them promoted would be great but our ultimate goal remains getting a player at a La Liga team or a Premier League team playing regularly for them," says Hoddle.

"That, for us would be as big an achievement as winning the World Cup."